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Animated Impressionism with Adobe After Effects

This tutorial covers a technique for animating paint strokes applied to a still image so that it appears to be a work of impressionistic art. Adobe After Effects is the software application used in this demonstration, but you can take the method outlined here and apply it to your own compositing application. Parts of the tutorial, however, will only work in Adobe After Effects and Autodesk Combustion. To achieve the desired effects as shown in the video above, the following plugins from RE:Vision Effects should be installed into your compositing application. Click the plugin names to download them from the RE:Vision Effects website:
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SmoothKit 2.0 RE:Map VideoGogh 3.0

You should have an intermediate understanding of Adobe After Effects in order to follow the steps outlined in this tutorial. Following along requires the use of the files found in the project archive that you can download from the link below. Unzip the archive file and open the Adobe After Effects CS3 project file to begin. Once open, within the project panel, you will find finalized versions of the compositions that you will eventually build by performing the steps in the tutorial.

The first part of the tutorial covers the technique in its most basic form. The sections in the first part show how to define a direction map for the paint strokes to follow, how to create a map for the stroke velocities, and the effects design. The second part of the tutorial shows two methods for controlling the paint strokes in a more accurate and precise manner.

Section 1.1
Set the project color space to 16 bits-perchannel (bpc). and then click the color space readout at the bottom of the project panel. the color space will change from 8bpc to 16bpc to 32bpc.PART 1 | Basic Setup
This part will guide you through the method for preparing all the compositions that will be processed by the Video Gogh plugin.
. with the final one showing the effect as applied to the image of the apples. You can do this by holding down the ALT key.1 | Direct The Strokes
The objective in this section is to create a composition that will act as a map for the direction of strokes at each pixel.1. Each time you click the readout while holding the ALT key. you should have four compositions.
1. At the end of this part. Defining specific areas of the image with spline masks allows you to control where the strokes will move and in what direction they will move. This is done by utilizing SmoothKit (SK) Directional With Splines operator.

Ensure the duration of the COLOR SOURCE composition is at least 00:05:00 seconds long.
1.tga to the new composition button in the Project panel.1.1. Rename the generated composition to COLOR SOURCE .
.3
Drag the COLOR SOURCE composition asset in the project window to the new composition button at the bottom of the Project panel. Rename this composition to STROKE DIRECTION MAP .1.2
Create a new composition by dragging apples_1280x720.

set that mask's operation to None from the dropdown menu next to the Mask name.4
In the STROKE DIRECTION MAP .
.1. On this layer. Each time you add a new mask.1. draw closed masks around each apple's highlights. As well. ensure the COLOR SOURCE layer is selected. create masks around the perimeter of the two largest apples as shown.

Set View Mode to Len Mod + Dir Map. Set Length to 1. Finally.
.1. set Len Mod Mode to Scale Len . Leave all other settings as default. You should see the image of the apples change from the image to a gradation of colors from a blue to pink hues.00. The image shows the correct parameter settings for the SK Directional With Splines operator.5
Add the SK Directional With Splines operator to the COLOR SOURCE layer.Spline Settting.1.

Section 1.1
Drag the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition asset in the Project window to the new composition button in the Project panel.2. you will convert the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition into a new composition that acts as a motion map which is fed into the Video Gogh Pro operator used in the final composition.
. Rename the new composition to STROKE VELOCITY MAP .
1.2 | Defining Stroke Speeds
The next steps show how to create a composition that will behave as a motion vector map used in the final effect. Essentially.

1. When you finish this step. Set Displacement Source to STROKE DIRECTION MAP and Modulation Source to STROKE DIRECTION MAP.
.00.2
In the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition.2. Open the Modulation Controls set of parameters and set Modulation Channel to Blue. Set Warp Amount to 1. apply the RE:Map Displace operator to the STROKE DIRECTION MAP layer. you should see a similar image as found in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition. Set Process Mode to Show Vectors. but the colors blend from green to red instead of blue to pink.

and the STROKE VELOCITY MAP compositions. all checkboxes should remain empty.1
In the project window.
. you should have a composition that looks similar to the video on the right. Also. The New Composition from Selection dialog box will appear. and for setting the parameters for the Video Gogh Pro operator.3. The steps require the use of the STROKE DIRECTION MAP and the STROKE VELOCITY MAP compositions created in the previous sections.
1. When you finish this section. Drag all three assets to the new composition button at the bottom of the Project panel.3 | Bring In Video Gogh
The next steps show the composition setup for the final rendered effect. Ensure that Single Composition is selected in the Create area of the dialog box. STROKE DIRECTION MAP . Click OK to continue.SECTION 1. select the COLOR SOURCE . Rename the new composition to PAINTING .

3. Set this paramerter to a value of 4.
. Next. Set Alt Direction Src to STROKE DIRECTION MAP. You should now see the Vectors: Max Displace parameter become active.2
In the PAINTING composition.00.08.1. and Direction Method to Use as Direction Map. Set Alt Motion Src to STROKE VELOCITY MAP. Apply the Video Gogh Pro operator to the COLOR SOURCE layer. Set Alt Motion Mode to Vectors. ensure the top layer is the COLOR SOURCE composition asset. Set the Max Brush Size to 0.

1. and set the Zoom Level of the composition viewport to 25%. it is generally a good idea to lower the preview Resolution to Quarter. Because of the computationally intensive work performed by the Video Gogh Pro operator. By this point. The spline shapes behave like a vortex for the strokes. The next part of the tutorial shows a few methods for controlling the paint strokes in a more precise manner. you should see the strokes animate around and within the spline masks that you created on the COLOR SOURCE layer in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition.
.3.3
Preview the animation.

PART 2 | Controlling The Paint
The following sections show two methods for controlling the speed of the paint strokes in the PAINTING composition.
SECTION 2. The second uses a matte image to designate which strokes should remain static. The first calls for adjusting the masks that were created in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition.
. After completing the steps below.1 | Speed Via Opacity
By altering the opacity of an individual mask in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP . you can effectively control the speed of the strokes in the PAINTING composition. your final composition video should look similar to what is seen on the right.

After doing this.1
Open the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition timeline. This color in the velocity map means that paint strokes in that area will move slower than in other parts of the image.2.
. and in its composition viewport. Set its Mask Opacity parameter to 0%. Notice this same area of pixels in the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition is now a flat mustard-yellow color.1. select the mask around the largest apple that is attached to the COLOR SOURCE layer. you should see the pink and blue hues change to red and green hues.

2
Preview the PAINTING composition. The masks that are contained within the perimeter mask of the apple maintained their Mask Opacity values at 100%. Setting the Mask Opacity to 0% brings the paint strokes within and around that mask to a complete halt.
.1.2. Notice the area of pixels around the mask that changed color in the previous step. This is why the strokes still move near those masks.

. In the PAINTING composition. you can use the opacity value of a mask in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition to control the paint stroke speed in the final rendered image.2. In essence.3
Now vary the Mask Opacity parameters values for each of the masks in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition.1. the paint strokes move slower inside masks with low opacity values when compared to the paint strokes inside masks with higher opacity values.

it is possible to accurately control the stroke's speed in different areas of the image.2.tga".2.
2.tga asset from the project window to the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition timeline.
.2 | Matte The Motion
The following steps show how to use a matte image to designate which areas of the image should have moving strokes and which should have static strokes.1
Drag the apples_1280x720_matte. By operating directly on the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition.Section 2.
2. Ensure this asset is placed in a layer above the COLOR SOURCE layer.2
Set the Track Matte (TrkMat) property of the COLOR SOURCE layer to Luma Matte "apples_1280x720_matte.

4
Open and view the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition. This color means that paint strokes in that area will remain static.2.2. Notice the areas of red pixels in the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition appear as a flat mustard-yellow in the STROKE VELOCITY MAP composition.2.
2.3
Create a new Deep Yellow Solid (16.384 | 16. The RGB values of this solid will have an influence on the orientation of the strokes within the dark areas of the matte image.
. and will be horizontal in the PAINTING composition.384 | 0) solid layer and arrange it below all the other layers within the STROKE DIRECTION MAP composition.

Now. and operators work together to create this effect. take a look at the composite tree for the PAINTING composition.2. compositions.
.2. This illustrates the structure of the effect and can be of help when troubleshooting.
Click image for a closer view.5
Preview the PAINTING composition. and you should see the desired effect where the paint strokes within the apples are moving while the horizontal strokes outside the apple are static. experiment with animating those splines or matte images!
Composite Tree
For a different perspective on how footage.